Etowah County vs Sullivan County
AL · 8,739 students • TN · 7,878 students • fiscal year 2024 • swap sides
In one line
- Etowah County and Sullivan County spend within 2% of each other per student once local price levels are accounted for.
- Sullivan County directs 4 more cents of every operating dollar to instruction than Etowah County.
- Sullivan County is far more dependent on local property taxes (33% of revenue vs 19%), which ties its budget more tightly to local property values.
Are these even comparable?
Establish the shape of each district before reading a single dollar figure.
| Etowah County | Sullivan County | |
|---|---|---|
| Students enrolled | 8,739 | 7,878 |
| Schools | 24 | 17 |
| Grades served | PK–12 | PK–12 |
| Setting | Rural | Rural |
| County | Etowah County | Sullivan County |
| State | AL | TN |
| Local price level (US = 100) BEA Regional Price Parity. Above 100 means a dollar buys less here than the national average. | 85.7 | 86.4 |
The headline dollar
Current operating spending per student, shown three ways. The first is what each district reports. The second and third are the honest ones for comparison.
| Etowah County | Sullivan County | |
|---|---|---|
| Per student, as reported | $11,939 | $12,103 |
| Per student, price-adjusted Divided by the local price level, so both figures are in the same money. | $13,938 | $14,000 |
| Per student, price-adjusted, excluding transport Transportation provision varies enormously between districts and states. Removing it compares the parts both districts actually do. | $13,286 | $13,156 |
| Capital spending per student Buildings and land, reported separately and never folded into the operating figures above. It is lumpy: a district mid-build looks expensive for two years. | Locked | Locked |
Etowah County
Sullivan County
Where the money comes from
The funding mix determines how exposed a district is to local property values, to state politics, and to federal programmes ending.
Etowah County
- Local 18.5% Locked
- State 65.3% Locked
- Federal 16.2% Locked
Sullivan County
- Local 32.6% Locked
- State 44.9% Locked
- Federal 22.5% Locked
| Etowah County | Sullivan County | |
|---|---|---|
| Local share of revenue Mostly property tax. A high share means school budgets track local property values, up and down. | 18.5% | 32.6% |
| State share of revenue | 65.3% | 44.9% |
| Federal share of revenue | 16.2% | 22.5% |
| Total revenue | Locked | Locked |
How AL funds its districts
We have not yet written up AL's funding formula, so nothing is claimed here.
How TN funds its districts
TISA — Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement: a per-pupil base with student-specific weights.
Where the money goes
The same slices in the same order for both districts, plus the differences by function — because two pie charts side by side hide exactly the thing you want to see.
Etowah County
- Instruction 55.7% Locked
- Instructional staff support 4.1% Locked
- Student support 6.9% Locked
- Operations & maintenance 8.7% Locked
- Transportation 4.7% Locked
- Food service 9.0% Locked
- School administration 6.0% Locked
- District administration 2.4% Locked
- Other support 2.5% Locked
- Other current 9.0% Locked
Sullivan County
- Instruction 58.8% Locked
- Instructional staff support 5.2% Locked
- Student support 4.9% Locked
- Operations & maintenance 10.2% Locked
- Transportation 6.0% Locked
- Food service 5.7% Locked
- School administration 5.9% Locked
- District administration 2.6% Locked
- Other support 0.8% Locked
- Other current 5.7% Locked
What is actually different
Share of each district's operating dollar, Etowah County minus Sullivan County. Two pie charts side by side are almost impossible to read against each other; this is the same data as one chart.
| Etowah County | Sullivan County | |
|---|---|---|
| Cents of each operating dollar reaching classrooms Instruction plus instructional staff support, as a share of current spending. | 59.8% | 64.0% |
| Administration share District office plus school administration. | 8.5% | 8.5% |
| Transportation share | 4.7% | 6.0% |
What the money buys
Staffing levels are the most direct thing a budget converts into.
| Etowah County | Sullivan County | |
|---|---|---|
| Students per teacher This is a staffing ratio: total enrolment divided by teaching staff. It is NOT average class size, which no national source collects. Actual classes are larger than this number in every district. | 17.4 | — |
| Students per counsellor | Locked | Locked |
| Students per administrator | Locked | Locked |
| Total salaries All staff, not teachers alone. The federal survey does not separate teacher pay. | Locked | Locked |
Who they serve
The answer to "but they serve different kids" — which is usually a fair objection.
| Etowah County | Sullivan County | |
|---|---|---|
| Child poverty rate Census SAIPE estimate of children aged 5–17 in poverty within the district boundary. Used instead of free-lunch eligibility, which community eligibility has made unusable for comparison. | 17.8% | 19.9% |
| English learners | 0 | 0 |
| Students with disabilities | 0 | 0 |
| Enrolment change, 5 years | +1.5% | -14.8% |
Results, and results for the money
Stability and risk
The homebuyer’s real question: what is likely to change after I move in?
Etowah County
No stability flags raised.
Sullivan County
- Declining enrollment Enrolment fell more than 5% over five years. Enrolment decline is the single best predictor of school closures and programme cuts.
- Federal cliff exposure More than 20% of revenue is federal, a share that is unusually exposed when temporary federal programmes end.
| Etowah County | Sullivan County | |
|---|---|---|
| Enrolment change, 5 years | +1.5% | -14.8% |
| Long-term debt per student | Locked | Locked |
| Debt service share of spending | Locked | Locked |
Enrolling a child
The same checklist for both districts, read off each district’s own enrolment page. Every "required" below links to the sentence it came from.
Etowah County
Student Registration/Enrollment - Etowah County Board of Education
Registration runs through PowerSchool. Read August 23, 2026.
Sullivan County
We have not been able to find an enrolment page for this district, so every row in its column below says so rather than guessing at it. Ask the district's registration office directly.
Is a seat at your zoned school guaranteed?
Etowah County
We have no such statement from this district — which is not the same as a promise that your zoned school has room. Most districts never publish the policy in either direction, and we have read only a fraction of the ones that do. Ask the school office directly whether your address’s school is enrolling at your child’s grade level before you sign anything.
Sullivan County
We have no such statement from this district — which is not the same as a promise that your zoned school has room. Most districts never publish the policy in either direction, and we have read only a fraction of the ones that do. Ask the school office directly whether your address’s school is enrolling at your child’s grade level before you sign anything.
- This is the district’s own published wording, not our summary of it. Policies are rewritten between enrolment seasons and a page can be out of date the day after we read it — the school office is the only authority on whether a particular grade at a particular school is full right now.
- A warning here is about capacity, not about your address. It does not mean your child will be moved; it means the district has told you in writing that it may move them.
- Required the page says so, and the sentence is quoted.
- Mentioned only it comes up, but not as a requirement — often a sentence saying the district cannot demand it.
- Not mentioned we read the page and it was not on it. That is not the same as "not required".
- Page not read we have no enrolment page for this district.
Documents to bring
| Etowah County | Sullivan County | |
|---|---|---|
| Proof of residency | Required “Please note the following details and dates for registration and proof of residence.” | Page not read |
| Proof of age (usually a birth certificate) | Not mentioned | Page not read |
| Immunisation records | Required “Original Blue Immunization Form (Must be up-to- date)” | Page not read |
| Physical examination | Not mentioned | Page not read |
| Dental, vision or hearing screening | Not mentioned | Page not read |
| Tuberculosis test | Not mentioned | Page not read |
| Records from the previous school | Required “Withdrawal Forms From Previous School” | Page not read |
| IEP or 504 plan | Not mentioned | Page not read |
| Custody or guardianship paperwork | Required “We do not accept custody papers that have ONLY been notarized.” | Page not read |
| Parent or guardian photo ID | Not mentioned | Page not read |
| Home language survey | Not mentioned | Page not read |
| Emergency contact information | Not mentioned | Page not read |
| Proof of income | Not mentioned | Page not read |
| Social security number Asked for by some districts. It is not required to enrol, and a school may not refuse a child who does not provide one. We list it because districts ask, not because you must answer. | Mentioned only Social security number (see note) “Student’s Valid Social Security Card (optional)” | Page not read |
How enrolling works
Locked 11 steps of the enrolment process — deadlines, appointments, proof of residency — are not shown. What to bring is above, and stays free.
- A blank row means the requirement did not appear on the page we read. It does not mean the district will not ask for it — published lists are routinely incomplete, and the registrar has the final word.
- Requirements change every enrolment season. Check the district’s own page, linked above, before you gather anything.
- A district cannot condition enrolment on your child’s immigration status: under Plyler v. Doe (1982) every child resident in the district is entitled to a free public education. If a district asks for something that would reveal status, you are not obliged to provide it.
- If your family is in temporary or shared housing, the McKinney-Vento Act lets a child enrol immediately without the residency and records documents listed here. Ask for the district’s homeless liaison by name.
Comparability notes
- Cross-state comparison. Dollars below are shown both as reported and adjusted to a common price level, because a dollar buys different amounts of teacher in AL and TN.
What these numbers are, exactly
- Finance: US Census Bureau Annual Survey of School System Finances (F-33), fiscal year 2024.
- Enrolment, staffing and directory: NCES Common Core of Data via the Urban Institute Education Data Portal, 2024.
- Child poverty: Census SAIPE school-district estimates, 2024.
- Price levels: BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024.
- Districts self-report to the F-33 survey. States differ in what they count as an operating expense, and several pay teacher pensions centrally so that cost never appears in a district’s books. No arithmetic fixes that; we name it instead.
- Property tax basis and borrowing: the same F-33 filing, revenue codes T06 and T02 and the long-term debt schedule (_19H, _21F, _31F, _41F).
Who decides, and what it costs you
Every band above this one asks what a district spends. This one asks who chose to.
Etowah County
The district levies its own school tax
This district raises property tax in its own name. Who sets the rate varies by state — an elected board in some, a public vote in others — but the levy is the school system’s own, and it is the part of a tax bill that school politics moves most directly.
Sullivan County
The county or town levies it, not the district
This school system reports no property tax of its own. It is a dependent system: the county or city levies the tax and appropriates money to the schools. You still pay school property tax — the school board simply is not the body that sets it, and the appropriation is argued out at the county or city council.
| Etowah County | Sullivan County | |
|---|---|---|
| School property tax levied, per student Only for districts that levy in their own name. Blank where the county or town levies instead — see the cards above, and read the next row. | $1,327 | — |
| Appropriated by the county or town, per student What the parent government handed the schools, for dependent systems. This is a general appropriation, not solely property tax. | — | $4,456 |
| Property tax as a share of all revenue How much of the budget rides on local property values, and therefore on local votes. | 9.2% | — |
| Long-term debt already owed, per student The balance at the end of the year, for scale. Repaid over decades, so it is a commitment made by earlier boards rather than a bill arriving now. | Locked | Locked |
| Debt service as a share of spending Interest plus principal repaid this year, against total spending. This is the part of the debt that is being paid now, out of money that would otherwise reach a classroom. | Locked | Locked |
| New long-term debt issued, per student Money borrowed during fiscal year 2024, as reported to the federal survey. What this figure does and does not tell you is set out under the table. | $0 | $0 |
- Etowah County: issued no new long-term debt in fiscal year 2024. That is a reported zero, not a gap in the data.
- Sullivan County: issued no new long-term debt in fiscal year 2024. That is a reported zero, not a gap in the data.
- A figure in the borrowing row is not a bond voters approved. The federal survey records debt issued, and that includes refinancing existing debt at a new rate — which changes nothing about what a district owes — as well as certificates of participation and lease-revenue debt, which in many states a board can issue with no referendum at all. To find out what was actually on a ballot, check the county election office.
- Debt is repaid over decades. A large balance per student is a commitment made by earlier boards and earlier voters, not a bill arriving this year. The debt service row above it is the part being paid now.
What this band does not answer yet
Unlock the full comparison of Etowah County and Sullivan County
The verdict, the headline dollar, the funding shares, who is served and every comparability caveat are free above, and stay free. What is behind the lock is the detail you would want before acting on any of it:
- capital spending per student
- total revenue and the funding mix in dollars
- the ten-line per-student breakdown of where the money goes
- counsellor and administrator ratios, and the total salary bill
- the debt behind the risk flags — per student, and as a share of spending
- the enrolment process — deadlines, appointments and proof of residency
$19 once for this pair, or $7 a month for every district in the country.
One payment, no account to create. Buy on the web and the iPhone app unlocks with the same receipt.